


trying to draw infinity

by strifescloud



Category: Metal Gear
Genre: Canon Disabled Character, M/M, Modern Setting, Multi, florist big boss, tattoo artist ocelot, tattooist and florist au, witchy ocelot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-03
Updated: 2016-02-03
Packaged: 2018-05-17 23:39:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,945
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5889562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/strifescloud/pseuds/strifescloud
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It starts when Kaz walks in to Eden Tattoos, design in hand. Adam thinks he's one of the most gorgeous men he's ever seen, but most of his walk-ins aren't the type to come back.</p><p>Only he does see Kaz again. Then he meets Kaz's equally stunning partner John, the florist next door.</p>
            </blockquote>





	trying to draw infinity

**Author's Note:**

> i can't believe im doing a tattooist/florist au i never even used to read that kind of stuff and here i am wrITING IT this is what this series has done to me  
> idk how old they are here really but i was defs channeling more of mgs3 embarrassing younger ocelot so maybe closer to PW ages than MGSV
> 
> this was hard to write because there's so much dialogue and im constantly having to edit teenage australianisms out of dialogue when i write it. fuckin oath mate no dramas tho
> 
> anyway this is just something that came to me at like 3 in the morning so idk what this is really but im tired of editing it so here ya go

It began on a rather innocuous Tuesday.

Business was _slow_. Adam’s all-day sitting had cancelled at the last possible minute, leaving him with nothing to do, and Eva’s first client of the day had apparently neglected to show up. Eva had taken to spinning lazily in her chair, staring at the ceiling as her music hummed in the background.

Adam sighed.

“Put up the sign.”

Eva brightened instantly, hopping off her chair to gleefully hang up the sign, which proclaimed in bold black lettering that walk-in appointments were available. Adam sighed again.

He _hated_ walk-ins. Tattoo design was, for him, a very personal experience between himself and the client. Consultations with his regulars was almost his favourite part – to gain an understanding of the person and to craft an artwork meant for them and them alone.

Walk-ins were always logos or flash sheets or something with infinity symbols and bird silhouettes that the client found on Instagram. There was no connection, no _artistry_. Most of them he never saw again.

Tapping his pen against his desk, he absently checked his phone. Eva had posted about walk-ins on the shop’s Facebook page as well. Great. Flipping open his sketchbook, he started to outline an idea from his latest consultation. Walk-ins were better than nothing, he supposed.

Nearly an hour had crawled by before the shop doors opened. Hearing the click of something – a cane? – along the ground, Adam looked up, meeting the eyes of the person at the counter.

Or rather, meeting the sunglasses. The man’s face was a stony mask behind dark aviators as Adam rose to meet him.

“Welcome to Eden Tattoos,” Adam said, a little dryly, “may I help you?”

There was an oddly long pause before the man released his crutch – so that was the cause of the noise – to take a piece of paper from his pocket, sliding it across the counter to Adam without a word.

Alright then.

Unfolding it, Adam withheld a sigh. It was a logo, of course. Some sort of yellow and black skull design, text stretch across the top. Reading it, Adam’s eyebrows rose slightly. The guy was a war vet then, judging from the injuries, though not from any kind of unit that he’d heard of. Something secretive, then. Adam’s respect for the other man rose a few notches.

“Where did you want it done?”

“I was thinking on my chest, unless you have any objections.” the man finally spoke, and Adam’s respect for him rose again. His walk-ins typically didn’t care much for his opinions, they just wanted the job done. When he spoke again, his voice was softer. “Above my heart.”

Adam felt his lips begin to tug into a smile, hoarding the sliver of information that had been revealed away in his mind. Walk-ins weren’t always so terrible, he supposed.

“That’ll be fine. Why don’t you come on through,” he ushered him over to his workstation, “and I’ll wrap up that chair for you.”

The man remained silent through the whole process, watching – probably, it was hard to tell behind the shades – as Adam prepared his workstation.

“Not your first time, huh?”

His grim expression shifted minutely, surprise evident for a brief second.

“It is, actually. It’s a….special occasion.”

“Huh. Well, why don’t you take off your shirt and sit down, and I’ll run you through it.”

He paused again, shorter this time, before complying, leaning the crutch against the chair as he sat down.

His face remained set in the same expression as Adam presented and unpackaged each component, explaining the safety and sterilization procedures. Closer to him now, Adam abruptly realised that the guy was damn _gorgeous_ , even with the shades firmly in place. Finishing up his spiel, he gave a long exhale. Damn.

His chest – already shaved, thankfully – was very warm, even through Adam’s gloves.

He was silent and unflinching as Adam began the linework, not moving an inch even when Adam turned for more ink. That was a pleasant surprise – his last few walk-ins had been awful fidgeters. The time passed in near-silence, the only sound the buzzing of his needle as he worked. He felt more than heard Eva come up behind him, observing the work.

“Of course you snapped up the cute one, Adam.” She teased as she sauntered back to her desk. He fought the rising heat he could feel in his cheeks and bit down on his retort. No point getting into one of these little ‘discussions’ with Eva. She’d win.

He finished up the linework with little fuss, swapping to the thicker needle to fill in around the lettering.

“Before I start on the colour,” he said suddenly, breaking the comfortable silence that had fallen again, “I will warn you that yellow and white are going to fade faster than any other colour ink. You still sure?”

There was no pause this time as the man nodded.

“I’m sure.”

Another sliver of information for Adam to file away. This was important to him. He simply started on the colour in lieu of a reply, finishing up the piece without further ado.

And if he let his hands linger a little as he wrapped the plastic wrap around the man’s chest, well, Eva wasn’t watching.

As Adam ran through the aftercare procedures he noted that there was a bit more _life_ in the stare now, as though being tattooed had restored some vivaciousness to him. Adam understood that feeling. His first tattoo – the snarling ocelot that sprawled over his left bicep – had awakened a fire in him that had led him to drop everything, withdrawing from his studies at the last minute to become a tattoo apprentice instead. Even if you didn’t have that spark, your first one always had something special about it.

Adam let the man dress and move back to the counter. He hesitated again as Adam took out the shop’s books, seemingly about to speak. Adam waited.

“I…thank you. It’s excellent work.”

He inclined his head, a proper smile forming.

“Thank _you_. You sit like a statue. Makes my job a lot easier, I tell you.”

 _That_ actually got the slightest of chuckles. Adam felt absurdly accomplished.

“How much do I owe you?”

It was roughly a $200 job, but Adam felt a bit daring.

“One-fifty’ll do.”

The other man very deliberately turned his head towards the sign that boldly proclaimed their hourly rate, then back to Adam. The question was clear.

“Easy job, didn’t cause me any troubles, and I got to look at that pretty face the whole time.” Adam’s smile grew into an outright smirk when he saw the subtle blush that was forming on said face. The money was placed into his hand with another murmured thanks, and the man was already looking ready to leave.

“Hey.” He stopped. “What’s your name?”

“Kazuhira.” He answered, a little quietly. Adam got the distinct feeling that he was being _evaluated_. “But….just Kaz is fine.”

“Kazuhira.” Adam repeated, smirk growing. “That’s a gorgeous name. Suits you.”

Kaz _definitely_ blushed at that, seeming a bit flustered as he turned to leave. He looked back as he shut the shop door behind him and Adam winked, never one to waste an opportunity. He watched as Kaz shuffled off, taking a long moment just to look out onto the street before turning around.

Eva’s stare was boring into his skull.

“What?”

“Don’t play innocent with me. That was flirting.” She pointed her pen at him accusingly. “You were flirting with Mr. Walk-in.”

“Wouldn’t you?”

“Fair point.”

“It’s harmless. Most likely we won’t ever see him again.” And what a shame, too.

Settling back in at his desk, Adam realised he’d forgotten to tell Kaz about the six month free touch-up policy.

Oh, well. If anything went drastically wrong with the healing process, he’d probably be back.

* * *

In fact, Adam saw him again much sooner than expected.

Wednesday turned out to be just as dull as Tuesday, only without a gorgeous walk-in to brighten his day. His first client’s design had turned out well but it was only a small piece, and a simple one at that. Eva was colouring something determinedly for her afternoon client, so he couldn’t go distracting her for entertainment.

Staring blankly out the glass front of the shop, he waited for inspiration to strike. The sky was a dull grey, cloudy and lifeless. Much like Adam himself in that moment, he thought with a touch of melodrama. He reached a hand up to fiddle with the tiny witch bottle around his neck, feeling the citrine rattle around in the glass. It had used the last of his dried basil to make last night, asking for more of the same good fortune that had allowed such a fortuitous walk-in that day.

Perhaps, in answer, the universe contrived to have the mysterious Kaz to walk past at that moment.

Adam straightened in his chair, blinking furiously in surprise. Was he so bored that he was imagining things?

Eva was engrossed in her work, so Adam went unnoticed as he slipped out the front door, turning just in time to see Kaz enter the next store over – the florist.

How interesting.

Adam strolled faux-casually over to the front of the store, trying not to feel too much like some kind of stalker. This was by far the most interesting thing to happen all day, it wasn’t like he could let it go now. Besides, although he’d never been inside the “Outer Heaven” flower shop himself, he was vaguely familiar with the owner. The owner who, incidentally, was also completely stunning.

Eva got a lot of mileage out of teasing him about his crush (it was _not_ a crush, thank you) on their “hot florist neighbour”. Adam felt a flicker of irritation at the mere thought. Pushing it aside, he slipped through the door.

Kaz and the owner were standing _very_ close to each other at the counter, murmuring a conversation that even Adam, with his sharp hearing, couldn’t pick up. It all looked very intimate. Very cozy.

Then the owner leaned forward to give Kaz a soft, chaste kiss, his smile filled with gentle warmth.

_Well._

What were the odds that two most gorgeous people he’d seen in a while were apparently together? Surprising, then, that he hadn’t seen Kaz before. Or maybe he had, and he just hadn’t noticed him.

Kaz had now noticed _him_ , however, having turned and begun to leave only to stop short as he saw Adam standing there awkwardly. Think fast, Adam.

“Oh, hey.” He winced internally. Very smooth.

“Hey.” Kaz replied, his voice still quiet, his expression thoughtful. “Adam, right?”

“Yeah, that’s me,” and he fought a little smile at being _memorable_ , “by the way, I forgot to mention to you yesterday….anything goes wrong while it's healing, if you come back to us within six months we can fix you right up, no cost. Standard policy, just slipped my mind.” That made him not seem suspicious, right?

Kaz smiled back at him, seeming much more at ease than he was the day before.

“Thanks, I’ll let you know. Although, I’ve followed your instructions to the letter,” Adam felt heat rise in his cheeks, as he knew his meticulous aftercare routine was a bit _precise_ , “so I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Well, hopefully, but you never know.”

“Right. Guess I’ll see you around, I’ve got to go.”

“Sure.”

Kaz left, and then Adam was alone with the frankly ridiculously good-looking florist. The florist who staring at him with an odd look on his face. His expression cleared when Adam met his eye, only to break into a grin.

“So _you’re_ the Adam that Kaz was talking about.”

“I suppose I am.” Kaz was _talking_ about him? What kind of talking?

“He’s very happy with it, in case you can’t tell. It’s something important to us,” that explained the eyepatch, if they were both veterans, “so he’s glad it turned out so well.” He turned away to begin fiddling with the flowers, rearranging some and gathering up others. “I’m John, by the way.”

“Nice to finally meet you, John.” That gained him a glance and a raised brow.

“Finally?” He felt himself blushing _again_. He was very off balance today.

“You know, with us being neighbours and all.”

“Of course. You know, I’ve seen you around, but I’ve never had the chance to ask - I’ve always been curious about something.” John was selecting flowers with a purpose now, bundling them up into a small bouquet.

“Yeah?”

“Why Eden?”

“Oh, well,” Adam dropped his gaze, shuffling his feet slightly. It was a bit pretentious-sounding, he knew. “Eva and I were apprentices together, so when we opened our own shop we just…”

“Adam and Eva, huh? That’s cute.” He was given an inscrutable look, some layer of meaning behind it that he couldn’t discern.

He wasn’t given much time to analyse it, as the now-finished bouquet was pressed into his hands. Three kinds of flowers, some a dark purple that were paler on the underside, others closer to lilac, bound together by a handful of long stems with yellow flowers. What they were, Adam couldn’t say, but they were certainly beautiful.

“Consider it a thank you. From us.” Adam’s face was probably _on fire_ he was blushing so hard. This was too much.

“I, uh, I- thank _you_.” John’s large hands, gentle despite the callouses and dirt, seemed to linger slightly as they closed his fingers around the stems, and Adam’s heart sped up. Time for a hasty retreat. “I’ve really got to get back to work before Eva comes looking for me but, uh, I’ll probably see you around.” God, John was even better looking this close. It was really distracting.

“Probably.” John returned to his counter, a smirk on his lips. Time for Adam to go before he said something really embarrassing.

“See you.” He turned and fled.

* * *

 Eva’s gaze shot to him the second he walked through the door, bouquet still clutched in his fingers.

“Where were you? Are those flowers?” A pause. “Are you _blushing?”_

“Shut up.” He grumbled as he returned to his desk, gently laying the flowers on the surface.

“Tell me everythiiiiing.” She was grinning when he turned back to her, eyes sparking with interest. He sat down and stared back at her for a long moment.

“I saw Kaz outside…” Her grin grew wicked as she leaned forward.

“Your cute walk-in from yesterday?” He hummed in affirmation.

“Turns out he’s the florist’s partner.”

“Like, _partner_?”

“Like, partner.” Eva was a bit like him with tidbits of information, only she wanted it for _everyone_. He could feel her attention zeroing in.

“So, you discover your hot walk-in with your equally hot florist neighbour…” she prompted.

“I don’t know, we…talked a little? And then John gave me these.” He gestured vaguely to the flowers on his desk, feeling himself warm a little from saying the name. He finally had the _name_.

“Oh my god, you have it so bad.” She pretended to swoon, pressing the back of her hand to her forehead. “John gave me _flowers-“_

“Shut. Up.”

“-after I got to put my hands _all over_ his boyfriend’s muscular chest.”

“Evaaaa,” he whined, putting his head in his hands. She wheeled her chair over to give him a reassuring pat on the shoulder.

“No, it’s cute. Now you have two of them to pine over.”

“I have not been pining.” He stubbornly insisted into his hands. Eva let out a disbelieving laugh, but returned to her desk. Eventually Adam managed to return to his work as well, but his mind was on John’s hands on his, and how Kaz had laughed the day before.

He put the flowers into a vase when he got back to his apartment, in a central place near his altar. Settling on the floor in front of it, he lit some pink candles and selected a bottle for his work. He murmured his intent to each item he added – lavender, dried rose petals, rosemary, and a sprinkling of others he had left over – and thought of John and Kaz.

Thought of John handing him the flowers, of Kaz’s small, hesitant smile. He finished the bottle with a rose quartz crystal and a few drops of lavender oil, sealing it with wax from his candles and more quiet words. It was only a small thing, more to attract love in general anything else, but maybe…

Eva was right, he realised as he painted a rune in red on the outside of the bottle. He was totally pining.

* * *

 The bottle joined the others on the back corner of his desk, a small piece of his craft in the workplace. Eva, thankfully, did not comment on the new addition. He wasn’t really up to explaining that one to her.

It was over a week before he saw either John or Kaz again, though he thought of them often. Thankfully business picked back up, and he was kept busy enough to not be “consumed by yearning _”_ (seriously, Eva, what did that even mean?) as the days passed.

He could, of course, just go next door, but he never quite worked up the courage.

It was a brilliantly sunny Thursday, the kind that had Adam squinting at the pavement during his smoke break. He took a long drag from his cigarette and wondered what gave the sun the right to be so damn _bright._

“Hey.”

Startled, Adam whipped his head around to see- _John_?

“Uh, hi.”

“On a break, huh?”

“Y-yeah?” Adam replied, turning it into something like a question. He nervously put out his near-finished cigarette, then immediately regretted it as his hands now had nothing to do but fidget with each other. Was this going somewhere?

“I’m just getting lunch if you wanted to join me.” John was standing closer to him now, close enough for Adam to see the scar through his eyebrow, the shifting of muscles in his exposed forearms as he gestured. Adam swallowed heavily.

“Yes!” Oh, that sounded too eager. “I mean, yeah.” Smooth.

John grinned and gestured for him to follow, leading him down the strip of shops that housed their own businesses to one of the nearby restaurants. They made idle small talk as they ate, but as they finished up their food Adam decided to be a bit bold.

“How is Kaz’s tattoo healing?” He tried to make it sound casual, like he didn’t think about that tattoo almost daily.

“Well enough that he can complain about how much it itches _all the time_ , which is…good?” Adam nodded, a wry smile on his lips.

“It’s good, yeah. He should be pretty much healed in another week or so, if all goes well. I can touch it up anyway if it doesn’t.”

“He mentioned that,” John replied, head tilting, “is that something you have to do often?”

“For my regulars, yes, especially for a large colour piece or for those who work in environments that make it hard for them to take care of a new tattoo. For walk-ins, well,” he made a slightly derisive noise, “most of them I never see again.”

“You don’t like walk-ins?” Adam realised how that could be taken, with Kaz having been a walk-in as well.

“It normally feels….impersonal,” he tried to explain, “which isn’t something I want in my work. I mean, half the reason I became an apprentice is because I wanted to create art _for_ someone. It’s a collaborative process between myself and the client.” John was nodding now, a spark of interest in his eye.

“It doesn’t have to even be that deep and meaningful for them. I just like to make something personal. Not something they took off a Buzzfeed article of the top ten tattoos of the year.”

That got a laugh out of John. Adam felt quite accomplished, but had one last thing left to say.

“Honestly, Kaz’s one was the first walk-ins I’d enjoyed doing in a long time.” He had John’s full attention now.

“Yeah?”

“I could tell it was important. It was personal.” John hummed in agreement.

“It is important, for both of us.” There was a story there, Adam could tell, but not one he was going to get today. Thankfully, John steered the topic away before it became uncomfortable.

“So do all of your tattoos mean something?” His eye began to roam over Adam’s exposed skin, taking in the visible ink. Adam flushed.

“In some way, I suppose.” John’s eye stopped briefly on the witch bottle around his neck and the line of Cyrillic lettering that was just visible on his chest before stopping on his left arm.

“What, like that you’re a cat person?”

Adam sat up straight.

“It’s an _ocelot_. Proud and noble creatures, solitary hunters-“

“Okay, okay, I get it,” John laughed, waving one hand, “you _really_ like cats.”

“I suppose you’re a dog person then.” He sniffed, a little haughtily. Ocelots were more than mere cats.

“You’d be right, we have a dog. Kaz pretends he doesn’t want him around, but it’s obvious he loves him as much as I do. Damn dog could worm his way into anyone’s good graces – even yours, I’d bet.”

“Right,” he said a little dryly, filing the information away. He opened his mouth to continue, but John beat him to it.

“You know, I took a look at some of your work on your Facebook page. You’re pretty good.”

Adam felt the blush return to his face. Cursing his body for betraying him this way, he stammered out his thanks, running his fingers over the cords circling his wrist. Simple knot spellwork, far from his specialty, but it would calm him down. Hopefully.

“Although you don’t seem to design as many flowers as other artists.” John raised his brow, a little teasingly. This was some kind of florist thing, Adam thought.

“Well, guess my clients just aren’t into that.”

“Maybe you should branch out. You’d be surprised what flowers can say.” John stood, Adam quickly following and reaching for his wallet. John put a hand on his forearm.

“Don’t worry about it.” He went to pay, leaving Adam to contemplate the lingering heat on his arm. It was…comfortable. Welcoming.

He would embarrass himself a thousand times over just to feel it again.

He spent the afternoon dodging Eva’s increasingly invasive questions about his “hot lunch date”, trying and failing to concentrate on his work. Maybe John was right – his art had been feeling a little stale lately. Perhaps he should try something new.

Late that night, in the privacy of his apartment, he found himself engaged in a staring match with the blank pages of his sketchbook. He felt the need to _create_ something – a big design, like a thigh or bicep piece. He breathed in the scent of his vanilla incense and tried desperately to search for inspiration.

His eyes wandered to the flowers that John had given him.

Taking pencil to paper, he began to draw.

* * *

 Eva wasn’t in the shop that day, so Adam didn’t have to hide what he was working on. It was turning out excellently, a twisting mass of flowers and thorns, beautiful and deadly in equal measure. It would, he thought, look great on John’s upper arm.

Or, if he wasn’t lying to himself, it was absolutely a piece designed for John, because Adam was _hopelessly_ gone over them both and John didn’t seem to have a speck of ink on him. Such a travesty.

He finished it around midday, having worked nonstop. The finished piece left him feeling drained yet deeply satisfied - the way a good design always made him feel when it was finished. He finally got up from his chair, groaning as his limbs protested.

He walked around the shop and stretched. He’d been curled up in his chair for too long. With Eva absent he felt free to sing along with his music as he checked his appointment book, swaying slightly with the beat.

“ _If I crawled my way out of this grave I just think of all the time I’d s-_ “

Someone cleared their throat. Adam spun around, mortified.

John was standing at the counter.

“You have a nice voice.”

Adam could _not_ meet his eye.

“Thanks,” he mumbled, but he quickly gathered himself. Making his way over to the counter, he wondered what John was doing here. Was he here on Kaz’s behalf?

“Can I…help you?” He prompted when John remained silent. Following the other man’s gaze, he realised that his eye on was on Adam’s sketchbook, still open to the piece Adam was designing for him.

“What’s that?” Adam debated the merits of trying to evade the question, but honestly, it was now or never.

“It’s…hang on.” He retrieved the sketchbook from his desk, bringing it back over to place it in front of John on the counter. The other man gazed pensively down at it, taking in the design.

“You took my advice.” He sounded oddly pleased. Adam felt a bit warmer, a bit braver.

“Well, it’s actually, uh,” he paused, nervous, but summoned his resolve, “I designed it for you.”

His eye shot up to meet Adam’s, a smile beginning to form.

“For me?” He repeated, then looked back down at the design.

“Yes, well, you gave me the idea after all, and I think it would suit you. I based it on those flowers you gave me.”

“I can see that.” John said, a little quieter and with an odd note in his voice. Taking it for disapproval, Adam tried to backpedal.

“I mean, it’s fine if you don’t like it, it was just an idea I-“

“Adam.”

He clicked his mouth shut.

“I like it.”

Adam could not stop his own smile, relief smothering his nerves for a blessed moment.

“Although, do you know what these flowers mean?” Adam raised his brows, the thought having not occurred to him, and felt his nervousness return.

“Well…no. I don’t know a lot about flowers at all, really.”

John reached a hand up to trace the design, fingers lingering on each flower as he explained.

“These ones at the bottom are agrimonia, meaning gratitude. Kaz picked these for you – he’s not as good at expressing thanks with words.” Adam’s heart fluttered slightly, but he remained silent, sensing more to come.

“These are browallia, more commonly known as amethyst for their colouring. My pick. They express admiration – in this case, my admiration for your art.” His eye flicked up to take in Adam’s expression before continuing, his hands reverent on the paper.

“Finally….these are gloxinia. They bloomed very late this year, and I took it as some kind of sign.”

Adam swallowed, his mouth suddenly very dry.

“Why’s that?”

“Because they mean love at first sight.” John’s gaze met his again, gauging his reaction.

Oh.

“Kaz and I picked it for you together.”

 _Oh_.

Adam was fairly certain he had never blushed so hard in his life. Completely at a loss for words, he couldn’t even manage to stammer out a response as John came around the counter, stopping close to him.

“Now, Kaz said it was alright to ask you this,” he took a step closer and oh God, he was _right there_ , the air electric between them, “can I kiss you?”

“Yes.” Adam breathed, and surged up to meet him.

When they finally broke apart John took one of his hands, bringing it up to brush a kiss against the knuckles before speaking.

“Kaz would very much like to have you over for dinner tomorrow night, if you’re free?”

“I’d love to.” Adam honestly couldn’t remember if he’d had plans, but if he did they were cancelled now. This was quite possibly the best thing to ever happen to him - no way was he missing out.

“Great. I can drive you home from here after work?”

“Sure.” John grinned again, eye sparking with restrained joy.

“I’ll see you tomorrow then.”

“Yeah,” Adam replied, still a bit dazed. John turned and left without another word, letting Adam’s hand trail out of his as he went. Adam mourned the loss of warmth, but his joy at the prospect of something much more drowned out the feeling.

This could be the start of something amazing.

* * *

  **Six months later**

Adam yawned as John crawled over him to take his place in the bed, letting the other man wrap his arms around his waist. He felt the scratch of a beard as John gently kissed his shoulder, murmuring into the skin.

“So when are you finally gonna give me that tattoo?”

Adam went very still, trying not to make his grin too obvious.

“I’m sure I can pencil you in.” He said wryly. Kaz huffed a laugh into the night air.

“When it starts healing I expect an apology.”

“For?’

“For every time you complained that I whined about it itching too much.”

“It can’t be that bad, look,” John ran his hand down Adam’s arm, which was covered heavily in ink, “Adam’s got tons of them. Right?”

Adam remained pointedly silent for a long moment, but couldn’t hold it as Kaz starting laughing again. He rolled over to face John, running his free hand through the other man’s hair.

“I’m sure you can handle it.” He said reassuringly, though with a hint of teasing in his tone. John smiled at that, leaning forward to kiss Adam’s forehead.

As they settled down to sleep, Adam realised that he had never been so content.

**Author's Note:**

> i want to make it clear that adam's views on tattoo artistry don't necessarily reflect my own - i just got the vibe that mr. revolver shalashaska "put 10 years into getting my torture degree at torture college because torturing people with needles is ART" ocelot would be that kind of semi-pretentious artist haha
> 
> adam is a bottles witch because i'm a bottles witch and dont know much shit about many other kinds of craft
> 
> don't ask me why bb became a florist - i initially had my dear gentle venom in mind but the Details like would i make his name still john? stuff like that made me pick bb instead haha. maybe they had nice flowers in costa rica or w/e and he got enthused
> 
> title from say anything's "the church channel", the line adam sings is from their other tune "try to remember, forget"  
> as always, come join me for some metal gear fun times at strifescloud.tumblr.com


End file.
